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A customer recently brought in an old Gibson that he inherited when his father passed away. He has asked me to get in back into playable condition for him. One of the issues this guitar has (like so many other vintage Gibson and Martins) is a badly worn fret-board in the first 3 frets. It is the worst I have seen and I'd like to do something about it if I can. I've seen these kind of fret-board divots filled on some instrument, but never liked the look since the filled portion of the fret-board tends to end up with a bit of a shine and ends up being very obvious. Also, in this case the wear is so bad that if I were to fill the divots in the first 3 frets there would hardly be any wood left on the surface, it would all be fill.Some of the divots are close to 1/16" deep and there is not enough thickness to the fret-board to sand them out.

Is there any other option for repairing this besides filling? If not what would you recommend for filler? Rosewood dust?

Thanks

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Cut strips into the fretboard and lift them up without breaking them, like ribbons, still attached on each end. You can fill in UNDER them and then level it out, it'll look pretty good.

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Old growth, shmold growth!

You can even cut the bad portions off at the fret, and replace them with matching rosewood. If there are bindings it will hide any evidence that this has been done.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Like The Whisperer, I've achieved pretty good results following the method Frank Ford describes here:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier ... divot.html

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George :-)

Yup that's the way. Works great!

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Old growth, shmold growth!

It's basically filling the fretboard with something, but done in a way to make them less noticeable.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Hey Guys, thanks for the tip on cutting and lifting the wood. I don't know why I didn't think to check frets.com myself. It is exactly what I am looking for. I won't be replacing any wood on the fretboard or other part of the guitar. While I would consider Tai's suggestion on a cheaper instrument, this guitar is all original and for the most part structurally sound. Frets, fingerboard, and some work on the bridge should get it back in working order.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

That's a crazy clever technique....

Frank Ford's method does work! It was an old Gibson, rosewood fingerboard, with deep divots. When finished, it was hardly noticeable.

thats a pretty creative solution...i never would have dreamed that up in a million years

Me neither.

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Old growth, shmold growth!